Category Archives: Parenting

When Emma was younger, I purchased these caps from Etsy.com. They are sooo cute and comfy looking. I adore these caps on her. Too bad she outgrew them. Boy does she grow fast. Since it’s getting colder, stock up on these cute caps for your kids. This Etsy seller is from Canada so expect 6 weeks until you get the product (time knitting and shipping). It is worth the wait.

My little one who’s 22 months old developed a fever in less than 4 hours. She was fine all day long but when around 9PM she was at 102.4 degrees. I gave her Tylenol but her fever kept rising. This is the first time that had ever happened. I never had a medicine not work. I knew I had Motrin somewhere. My pediatrician told me when fevers get real high, give Tylenol and Motrin at the same time. In this case at 11 PM, her fever crept up to 104.4. After giving her Motrin, within 30 minutes, her fever was down to 103.1. I’m relieved but I’m still going to call the doctor in the morning. I guess I’m not going to sleep at all tonight.

With my first baby Megan, I thought “Of course I’ll breastfeed.” I didn’t realize it was really hard to breastfeed.

1. The baby doesn’t know what to do.2. The latching on is the most crucial step. You don’t get it right, it’ll affect milk supply and how painful it is.3. The first 2 weeks are awful.4. Not only is the mom sleep deprived already, breastfeeding is time consuming.5. You are leaking, your breasts are engorged, and sore nipples.

It took me 10 days. I had to stop. I did not look forward to each feeding and I knew that was bad when I was delaying the nursing. I was still in pain from my labor. I had a perineal tear that had its stitches torn within an hour of my labor. So I was restitched up a 2nd time.

The perineal tear made my recovery longer than most. It took me 10 weeks instead of the usual couple of weeks. From the pain to low milk supply, I was frustrated, in pain, and sad/depressed.

Switching to formula really helped my family.

With Emma, I decided to try breastfeeding again. I felt good! Emma was latching on (not perfectly but adequately) enough to get enough dirty and wet diapers. I was supplementing with formula also. I got through 5 weeks of pain. It was worth it.

But my decision to change to formula was a sad one. I loved the closeness I felt when breastfeeding. As much as I wanted to continue breastfeeding, it was time to go back to work. I had missed a lot of work time because I was put on complete bed rest since of my 31st week of pregnancy.

My doctor recommended me to continue to breastfeed in the morning and at night but I also work from home too. To make ends meet, my time breastfeeding had to stop. Everytime I look at Emma, I feel melancholy that I couldn’t do more for her.

I’m glad I breastfed both my kids as much as I could. Circumstances now compared to in the past are different. We’re working women and working moms.

Megan is now 2 years old. Along with a new baby in the house, I am struggling to control Megan’s behaviors. She had always been a great 1 year old toddler. Well minus her constant urge to get into every nook and crany of everything.

Yeah, so she’s a handful.

But recently, (well 5 months ago), she started to have sleeping problems. She would get into bed at 9pm but wouldn’t sleep until midnight. Around 20 months, she got the nerve to climb out of bed and walk through the door. We would find her in her play room at midnight. We put her back into bed and she would fall asleep … an hour later.

We had to sleep by her side. If she wakes in the middle of the night, and one of us is not there, she would burst into tears.

So now at 2 years of age, and with a newborn, we need to make some changes. PRONTO.

I am at wits end when I ran across a parenting advice column. 2 parents recommended “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” I bought it and I’m reading it and already I see some hopeful and helpful tips.

Megan is starting daycare on Monday. And I’m nervous. I know she’ll cry. I know I’ll cry. I don’t even know if I can leave her in the care of strangers.

I just have to do it. I’m 5 months pregnant, working and grandma is very taxed from watching a growing 19 month old. Megan is stronger, faster now. She’s injured grandma on several occasions and is getting very heavy for anyone of us to carry around.

I’m hopeful that we’ve chosen the right daycare. I was recommended to Primrose School but online reviews give me a bad feeling.

I don’t know if I’m making the right decision. Well I know Megan needs to go to daycare to interact better with other kids her age. And she seems to like to play with other kids.

Our plan is to drop her off Monday at 9am or 10am. Play with her a bit and get her situated with the class. We’ll probably pick her up at 1pm for several weeks. After several weeks, we’ll extend the pickup time to 3pm. The latest we might leave her til is 5pm. But that’s very rare.

My 19th month old baby girl is really growing. She’s just sprouting super fast. At her last checkup she was 34.5 inches tall and weighed 26lbs. The doctor was asking how many words she can really say and I was worried that she wasn’t talking much. Mostly it was in baby gibberish that 90% of time no one could understand.

She says:MomDadBa – for grandmaUm – pick me up in vietnamese but it’s been like 3 months since she said that word.Where’s that?What’s that?Who’s that?

Today she said something new! I had turned on the TV for her and she replied, “Tank You.” hehe. I was shocked.

It made me happy and it’s kinda promising that I’m doing something right.

Wow, it’s been a tough couple of months. When Megan turned 16 months, we noticed she began to be more whiny. She made hold her more often even when I told her I was very tired. She threw more temper tantrums when things didn’t go her way. And it was awful going out to dinner with her throwing food and refusing to eat!

We were getting very sad and we missed our sweet natured baby.

For the past week, it has been a lot better. Especially going out to dinner last night. She did throw food on the floor but it was an accident. She picked up her bowl a little to swiftly and the contents flew out. She was easily entertained at dinner with sipping ice tea out of a straw and with ice cubes that she could play with. And she readily slurped up her milk without me, pushing the cup at her.

Today was another great day. Great improvement. At 12:30pm she climbed into bed, grabbed a pillow, pulled the covers over herself, babbled for a couple of minutes and now she’s asleep. First time in a loonnng time that she was able to do that.

I did notice that 1 of her back molars came in. Maybe the babying was because she was in pain and she just wanted some affection. It is nice to have my sweet girl back. But I’m not looking forward to the other 3 molars though.

Hehe. I’m writing this blog after I found harden sauce in my hair. It had clumped around the bottom of my hair in this hard mass. I had to pick at it and realized it was some sauce substance from my baby’s food. She had went wild tonight, dumping everything on her high chair. Thank goodness it was only in the tray of her high chair.

I think I would cry if I had to mop the floor tonight.

Somehow her tossing and flinging sauce at me, made me laugh. I was happy that she was so carefree and excited. I guess that’s just her being young. And within a year, two, even 18, I might never ever see that side of her again. I just want to enjoy it for as long as I can.

She also take in delight at HI-5 series that a friend of my parents sent to us. She loves the colors, the acting and the music. I couldn’t tear her away from it. It got so good for her that while she bounced and jiggled to the music, I ate standing up. Stuffing my face, quick just to keep an eye on her. My husband kinda stood aghast at seeing supermom in action.

So nothing should surprise me to find sauce in my hair or that I who usually eat savoringly will stuff her face.

Welcome!

I just turned 30 in October and I'm a mother of 2 little girls, Megan 3, and Emma 1. I love to dress up but with work and running after two kids, I don't have the time or energy. By blogging about fashion, I noticed that I aspire to look better because it makes me feel better. It is also a way to showcase outfits that work or don't work for me. You live and learn through trial and error. Apparently that phrase also applies to fashion.

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